Monday, November 7, 2005

The meeting began with a discussion of developing a protocol for venue hunting. In this case "protocol" simply refers to a list of requirements that we need fulfilled (such as bathrooms) and things we would prefer (such as a flexible wooden floor).

The minutes of the last meeting were reviewed and approved.

Nancy was not present, hence, no financial report was presented at this meeting. However, Nancy did send word that the last two dances lost money.

The schedule of dances across the next six months was reviewed, with particular reference to unfilled band and caller slots.

The idea of changing away from the standard "second Saturday" schedule for the April and June dances was discussed. The reason for doing this is that these Saturdays conflict with large weekend dances in the region. This will lower attendance by experienced Columbia dancers, and is making it very difficult to secure callers for those dates. The group took an informal decision to let Dianne select the best alternative dates for those months. Those dates will be formally adopted (or not) at the next meeting.

Chuck and Karen are moving out of state, and we briefly discussed the loss these "group veterans" would have on our organization.

The group briefly discussed the possibility of placing Tim Sneed, a board member alternate, into full officer status to fill the vacancy we now have on the board. This was formally approved, subject to the approval of Tim, who was not present.

There was a brief discussion about setting up the weblist (a subset of the membership) comprised of people who are interested in carpooling to regional dances. The list is set up (on the COTMD website) and is operational.

A discussion was held concerning allowing Nancy (or whoever is paying out at a dance) a little bit of leeway on gas money, for special cases. This means a few extra dollars could be given to a particular caller or musician if conditions warrant. This would still be properly recorded in the financial report.

With regard to the development of protocols for venue hunting, Connie agreed to send out a list of commonly asked questions (questions that we need answers to, and questions that we are likely to be asked, requiring well thought out and prepared replies from our representatives).

Fred suggested that we should change and simplify our concept of what constitutes a member, since we have almost no members who are not officers, and therefore, the board is often in the position of electing itself. Some groups define "member" as anyone who is at a given dance that includes an election, plus any person who has previously been to a dance and has "signed up" to get dance info via email. This notion was agreed to informally, with a formal vote to be taken at the next meeting, based on a formal wording of the proposed change. The change would take effect in March of 2006, by which date all existing "paid memberships" will have lapsed. A draft formal wording of this change follows:

Be it resolved that, as of the date March 1, 2006, COTMD membership (for the purpose of voting in officers or making other decisons requiring a vote) will be defined as belonging to anyone who is present at a dance that also includes a COTMD election or meeting, plus all persons who have done BOTH of the following: attended at least one previous COTMD dance, and have signed up at that time to receive COTMD dance and event information via email.